Heidelberg shooter had previous links to neo-Nazi party: German media

By Cuneyt Karadag

BERLIN (AA) - A teenage gunman who killed a fellow student and wounded three others at Heidelberg University in Germany before committing suicide had previous ties to a neo-Nazi group, German media reported Wednesday.

According to the Die Zeit newspaper, the attacker, named only as Nikolai G., was a member of the militant neo-Nazi “micro-party” Der Dritte Weg (The Third Path), adding he left after a while.

However, the Heidelberg public prosecutor’s office emphasized that there was no evidence that the attack was politically motivated.

Shortly before the crime, the 18-year-old gunman, who was a biology student at the university, reportedly sent a WhatsApp message to his father saying “people have to be punished” and his father reported it to the police.

It was discovered that the attacker bought a rifle and a shotgun and about 100 rounds of ammunition from Austria, and a third gun was found in a room he rented when he was in Austria.

It was also learned that he participated in the wounding of a man in Berlin in 2017 and that despite his mother filing a police report, the investigation did not result in his punishment.

The incident occurred Monday in Neuenheimer Feld, one of three campuses at Heidelberg University, which includes a medical school and natural sciences faculty.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan